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Holland’s Third Reformed Church Celebrates 150 Years

Date Posted:

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

By Elaine Tanis

On September 9 and 10, Third Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary with an open house and worship service to begin a nine-month celebration. The church will celebrate through historical mini-courses, music and art programs, a Lenten prayer vigil, service projects, and a recommitment worship service to be held in June 2018.

“I see us as shifting and pivoting to being much more hands on, more involved in ministry with a global perspective but locally engaged,” says Kent Fry, pastor of preaching and leadership.

Third Reformed was organized on September 9, 1867, with encouragement from Albertus van Raalte, minister of First Reformed Church in Holland and founder of the city of Holland. Members of First Reformed who lived west of Central Avenue were asked to become the nucleus of Third Reformed, and so it began with 97 members.

Third Reformed’s motto, To Know Christ and to Make Him Known, continues through its involvement in neighborhood outreach, prayer, housing and refugee ministries, and engaging programs and worship.

Elaine Tanis is an elder at Third Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan.

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